Course descriptions for Topics courses
Each year the Department of Classical Studies offers one or more Topics classes, which focus on a specific area of Greek or Roman civilization or literature. Topics courses may be repeated for credit, provided that the topic changes. Topics courses are offered in English, with no knowledge of Greek or Latin required.
Topics courses in Classical Studies include CLST 200 (study of a specific topic in Mediterranean civilizations or literature), CLST 300 (the advanced study of a specific topic in Mediterranean civilizations or literature), and CLST 310 (study of a specific topic in Mediterranean archaeology). There is also a Latin topics course, LAT 390 (an examination of a particular theme, author, or period in Latin literature).
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
2013 Spring Topics Course
CLST 300A: Topics: Airs, Waters Places: Classics and the Environment
(Spring, 2013 - Prof. Wells) 12:30 - 1:30 MWF
The course title, “Airs Waters Places: Classics and the Environment,” repurposes the title of a Hippocratic treatise on the influence of place upon human health. In line with the Hippocratic investigation into the relationship between environment and human health, this course explores how ancient Greek and Roman thinkers and poets conceive of the environment and its role in shaping human culture and how the environment, in turn, informs the ideas and art of ancient Greek and Roman writers. The course begins with an overview of the environmental history of ancient Greece and Rome, then moves through a series of topics—cosmos (ecology), wilderness, farming, and pastoral–that progresses both from macro to micro perspectives of the environment and through time from ancient Greece, to ancient Rome, to modern receptions of ancient environmental literature. The course will be highly interdisciplinary, integrating consideration of philosophical texts, literary texts, material culture, economics, and a subfield of Classical Studies called Classical Reception, which investigates how, and why, ancient Greek and Roman literature and art has influenced the history of literature, art, and ideas since antiquity.
2012 Fall Topics Courses
CLST 310A: Topics: Who Owns the Past? (Cross-listed with ANTH 390A: Topics: Who Owns the Past?)
(Fall, 2012 - Prof. Schindler) 10:00 - 11:30 TR
The preservation of the world’s cultural heritage is increasingly under threat from modern development, environmental degradation, illegal excavation, and military operations. In this course we will examine the ethical and legal dilemmas inherent in dealing with the cultural productions of past populations. There are many stakeholders in the past. From governments and institutions, to descendant communities, archaeologists, and the general public, we will look at the rights and responsibilities that each group claims to have when it comes to using (and perhaps abusing) the past. Topics that we will address include (but are by no means limited to):
What is Cultural Property?: can the past be owned?
Preservation: what are we saving and why?
Research Ethics: what obligations do professionals (archaeologists, curators, etc.) have?
Stewardship: who should be responsible for the past?
Politics and War: what role should modern nation states play in preserving the past?
Meaning: what meanings do people attribute to the past?
As much as possible this course is run as a seminar. The focus is on discussion and critical thinking. Students will present and write-up individual research projects. In addition to the assigned readings, we will also work through a number of case-studies that present difficult ethical dilemmas.
2011 Fall Topics Courses
CLST 300A: Topics: Before Socrates (Cross-listed as PHIL 309B Topics: Before Socrates)
(Fall, 2011 - Prof. Huffman) MWF 9:20-10:20
The road up and the road down are one and the same. - Heraclitus
For in no way may this prevail, that things that are not, are. – Parmenides
And indeed all things that are known have number. For it is not possible that anything whatsoever be known without this. – Philolaus
By convention, sweet; by convention, bitter; by convention, hot; by convention, cold... but in reality atoms and void. - Democritus
Western philosophy had its origins among a group of Greek thinkers who were active in the 200 years before the death of Socrates (600-400). Both Plato and Aristotle looked back to these Presocratics as important precursors to their own work. This early Greek philosophy was in many ways an heroic age of philosophy. These thinkers are characterized by the bold nature of their speculations and the breadth of their interests. They were poets, scientists, shamans, sages and physicians as well as philosophers. One of the central questions that they addressed was how the cosmos came to be and what the requirements were for something to exist or to be known. Heraclitus is famous as the philosopher of flux, who pictured the world as a river into which you cannot step twice without its having changed. Parmenides’ account of the nature of what is has led many to argue that he thought that all change and all plurality were illusory and that all that exists is one unchanging thing. Amazingly it is as a response to Parmenides that Leucippus and Democritus developed the atomic theory. Empedocles was the first to posit the four elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water, which would be adopted by Aristotle and dominated much of ancient and mediaeval thought. The Presocratics were also concerned with ethical issues. Pythagoras believed in the transmigration of the soul and taught his followers a way of life that was directed at obtaining the best possible rebirth. Alcmaeon gave the first argument for the immortality of the soul. In this course we will try to do justice to the variety of interests among the Presocratics, examine the cultural context in which their speculations arose, try to define what it is that makes them philosophers, and most of all discuss the intriguing arguments they developed to support their bold conjectures about the nature of reality and what constitutes a good human life.
2011 Spring Topics Courses
CLST 300A: Topics: Greek Oratory
(Spring, 2011 - Prof. Sears) MWF 1:40-2:40
This course is an introduction to the political and legal speeches of Athens during the 5th to 4th centuries BCE. During this time the Athenian democracy saw many changes in fortune, and ultimately came to an end under the rule of Alexander the Great and his successors. In connection with these speeches, we will examine several topics of interest: Athenian social, political, and religious ideology; the meaning of "proof" and "truth" in a world that existed before mass media or forensic evidence; and general techniques of persuasion. These topics are of immediate interest to those who wish to learn more about ancient Greek civilization, but are equally applicable to more modern cultures, since rhetoric (the art of public speaking) is and always has been of extreme importance in obtaining political power.
2010 Spring Topics Courses
CLST 262: Egyptian, Aegean and Near Eastern Art and Archaeology
(Spring, 2010 - Prof. Schindler) MWF 9:20-10:20
In this course we will study the art and archaeology of early civilizations that developed around the Mediterranean Sea. Our focus will be on the cultures of Egypt, the ancient Near East, and the Aegean Sea that developed during the Bronze Age (down to ca. 1100 BC). We will begin with the advent of agriculture in the first communities of the Neolithic period, and then follow the rise of the first cities and empires. Both regional developments and cultural interchanges are emphasized. Particular theses that we will address include: human-environment adaptation, the invention of writing and glyptic art, the art of kingship, the construction of monumental buildings (e.g. pyramids, ziggurats, Minoan palaces, and Mycenean citadels), patterns of daily life and rituals of death, the archaeology of social organization, trade, and the iconography of empires. Through this course you will learn to analyze archaeological materials from plain pottery to intricate fresco paintings. Through the reading of maps and plans you will learn to appreciate the delicate balance between the natural world and cultural developments. The course culminates in a research project that involves a group presentation and an individual reasearch paper.
2008 Spring Topics Courses
CLST 300: Topics: Before Socrates (Cross-listed as PHIL 430 Major Philosophers)
(Spring, 2008 - Prof. Huffman) MWF 10:10-11:10
The road up and the road down are one and the same. - Heraclitus
For in no way may this prevail, that things that are not, are. – Parmenides
And indeed all things that are known have number. For it is not possible that anything whatsoever be known without this. – Philolaus
By convention, sweet; by convention, bitter; by convention, hot; by convention, cold... but in reality atoms and void. - Democritus
Western philosophy had its origins among a group of Greek thinkers who were active in the 200 years before the death of Socrates (600-400). Both Plato and Aristotle looked back to these Presocratics as important precursors to their own work. This early Greek philosophy was in many ways an heroic age of philosophy. These thinkers are characterized by the bold nature of their speculations and the breadth of their interests. They were poets, scientists, shamans, sages and physicians as well as philosophers. One of the central questions that they addressed was how the cosmos came to be and what the requirements were for something to exist or to be known. Heraclitus is famous as the philosopher of flux, who pictured the world as a river into which you cannot step twice without its having changed. Parmenides’ account of the nature of what is has led many to argue that he thought that all change and all plurality were illusory and that all that exists is one unchanging thing. Amazingly it is as a response to Parmenides that Leucippus and Democritus developed the atomic theory. Empedocles was the first to posit the four elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water, which would be adopted by Aristotle and dominated much of ancient and mediaeval thought. The Presocratics were also concerned with ethical issues. Pythagoras believed in the transmigration of the soul and taught his followers a way of life that was directed at obtaining the best possible rebirth. Alcmaeon gave the first argument for the immortality of the soul. In this course we will try to do justice to the variety of interests among the Presocratics, examine the cultural context in which their speculations arose, try to define what it is that makes them philosophers, and most of all discuss the intriguing arguments they developed to support their bold conjectures about the nature of reality and what constitutes a good human life.
CLST300A: Topics- Women and Literature: Ancient Greek Sources & Modern Versions (Cross listed as ENG264)
(Spring, 2008 - Prof. Altman) T Th 10-11:50
When we look into depictions of gender and sexuality in the Ancient Greek world, much seems strange to us. Still, much is also familiar, even foundational to how we think about gender and sexuality today. In law, education, and cultural life, we appeal to ancient models even as we rework them; and much important twentieth-century European and American literature was closely entwined with understanding, translating, rewriting the legacy of Ancient Greece. This new course will take a seminar/ discussion approach to exploring some connections and (disconnections) in the social construction of gender then and now. We’ll read many primary ancient literary texts, including drama (Euripides and Sophocles), poetry (Sappho and others), and a little philosophy, along with some historical and critical readings to put them in context; then some twentieth-century writers (including Anne Carson, Mary Renault, Jean-Paul Sartre, and others yet to be chosen) who draw on ancient inspirations for new gender stories. Guest lectures will help us understand some of the visual and archaeological evidence as well. All readings will be in English, though those who know Greek will be encouraged to read along in the original; the course may be counted toward a women’s studies major or minor as well as within the English department or Classical Studies.
Recent topics courses
The Archaeology of Ancient Britain (Fall, 2007 - Prof. Foss)
Image and Propaganda in the Ancient Art and Architecture (Spring, 2007 - Prof. Nitschke)
Ancient Athletics (Fall 2006, Prof. Seaman) Greek and Roman Law (Fall, 2005 - Prof. Guinee)
Ancient Cities (Spring 05-Prof. Liu) Senior Seminar: The Age of Alcibiades (Spring, 2005 - Prof. Huffman)
The Archaeology of Carthage and North Africa (Fall, 2004 - Prof. Foss)
Ancient Israel (Spring, 2004 - Prof. Schindler)
The Age of Augustus (Spring, 2004 - Prof. Thibodeau)
Before Socrates (Fall, 2003 - Prof. Huffman)
Ancient Mediterranean Religions (Spring, 2003 - Prof. O'Bryhim)
The Archaeology of the Early Greek City (Fall, 2002 - Prof. Erickson)
Ancient History in Film (Spring, 2002 - Prof. Foss)